If you’re like me, there are some games from your youth that just never get old. Monopoly – Oh yeah, that gets old REAL quick. Risk was one of those games that just never got old. Something about world domination just can’t help but stir something in the heart of every young boy. It even got better as time went on, with more refined and detailed board games like Axis & Allies. Ah, those were the days!

Well, now you can relive just a bit of that fun on your iPhone – and you can even do it for free! The app Lux Touch isn’t as detailed as Axis & Allies – it’s more like a short, sweet version of Risk.

First off, you’re the Blue army – and the object is simple: absolute, complete obliteration of your opponents. At the beginning of each turn, you get armies to add to your existing forces in any area you occupy, and as you gain control of entire continents, you get bonus armies to deploy. As your numbers build up, you can attack adjoining areas that your opponents occupy, and they will attempt to do the same to you. It’s simple, yet addictive. Read on for more and some screenshots…

So the game is very simple to play, you start each turn with reinforcements to deploy – just touch one of your blue countries to add an army to that location. Once you’ve placed all the reinforcements, now it’s carnage time. You can attack any country that’s adjacent to one you already occupy. Obviously, it’s highly suggested that you attack from a country that has more armies than the one you’re attacking.

No need to get into all the strategy in playing Risk or Axis and Allies – it’s not rocket science. You’ll obviously want to play a balance of offense and defense. If you capture a country during your turn, you get a ‘card’ – once you have 3 or more cards, you can cash them in for bonus armies. Another way to get cards is to completely destroy one of your opponents – then you get all their cards (and if it makes a total of three or more – you can cash them in right then and keep your blitzkrieg going!).

After you’ve attacked as much as you can or want, you touch the ‘Fortify’ icon, and then you can move your armies around to play defense. To end the turn, touch the ‘End’ icon, then you watch as the other armies take their turns.

Once you’ve utterly defeated everyone, there’s no fanfare – it just pops up a screen saying You Win! If you happen to get your butt kicked instead, then you get to watch as the remaining countries duke it out to the bitter end.

In this free version, there’s only the normal playing board (world), no multi-player options and worse than anything – no ability to save your game. The developers are working on the deluxe edition (which will, of course, cost you money) that has more options, including saving your game. I’m really looking forward to what they come up with – and hope that it develops into more complex gameplay like Axis and Allies versus the more simplistic Risk-style. In the meantime, grabbing this app is a no-brainer if you’re into this type of game. Even though you can’t save, it’s no big deal right now as the games tend to be very quick.

If you’re into Axis and allies and were not aware, there’s an open source java-based version of the game available that has all the pieces and rules of the original board game. It’s over at Sourceforge.

Here’s some screens to look at while you head over to go download it:

And we’re off – At the start of the game, your blue armies and countries are randomly placed around the map. From there, start your quest for domination.